BeoPlay H6

Two new headphone models in Bang & Olufsen’s BeoPlay line-up were announced on the evening of Monday 9 April 2013: the H3 in-ear model, which will sell for €249/£199 and the €399/£329 H6 over-the-ear model which combines the company’s traditional anodized aluminum finish with leather and lambskin. They were launched at a special event at London’s Fabric club, held in association with Universal Music’s Yellow Lounge crossover prestigious events.

The new headphones are the work of Danish designer Jakob Wagner, working in conjunction with the company’s acoustics and electronics experts at Bang & Olufsen’s HQ, The Farm, in Struer, Denmark.

Presented by Bang & Olufsen CEO Tue Mantoni, who introduced both the headphones and, with Universal Music Group boss Max Hole, performances by guitarist Miloš and pianist Valentina Lisitsa, the pair of new headphones are aimed at “people who don’t want to listen to music using little white earbuds”, as the CEO told his audience.

The H6 headphones are built from aluminum and leather, available in either natural finish or black, with lambskin ear-cushions using memory foam to shape themselves to the wearer’s ears.

The genuine leather is sourced from New Zealand, as farms there use no barbed wire, and thus the leather has no cuts and scratches and is designed to age and change color in use. Mantoni stated that the headphones would take on a patina over time, “showing what you and your headphones have been through together.”

Weighing just 230g and using 40mm drivers, the H6 headphones come with both three-button and single-button cables, plus spare ear-cushions, and have inputs for the durable and detachable cable on both left and right earpieces, plus the ability to daisy-chain an extra pair of headphones using the ’spare’ socket. BeoPlay H6 can be folded for easy transportation. It comes with its carrying bag. Unfortunately, there is no built-in noise-reducing circuitry built into this headphone.